In the past couple of weeks we've seen some shocking tackling, in the Super 14 particularly. I'm not sure if it's the intensity of the tournament, the physicality of some of the players, or just plain over exuberance.

Whatever the case, there's absolutely no place on the rugby field for a spear tackle, and most of the time, it's landed the guilty party a suspension and somewhat of a bad reputation to go with it.

So in light of that, when I saw this fantastic hit by Greg Holmes last weekend, I figured I'd have to share it with the world. Let's be honest, we love seeing the hard hits but when they're dirty, it leaves a bit of a sour taste.

Reds' prop Holmes, famed on RD for his incredible solo try against Ireland , showed us all exactly how to stick your opponent on their backside the legal way. You'll note that halfway through his smashing of young Stormers flanker Francois Louw, Holmes gets him into the position of a typical spear tackle.

But, by controlling the tackle and driving to ground with him, as opposed to just dropping him, Holmes pulls off a one hundred percent safe, legal, and bone crunching tackle.

Holmes did everything perfectly, but you have to say that Louv walked into that one...literally. From 10m out he saw a static prop whose feet were firmly anchored 3ft apart and yet still managed to run into him with unerring accuracy. To top it all his centre of gravity was hovering somewhere above Holmes' shoulder.Holmes must have thought he was blessed (until he woke up and realised he was playing for the Reds...)

"It wasn't controlled, the flankers leg gets caught in the ground or else he would have been head first"...I'm sorry, but you are incorrect...look at the vid again.It's all about his upper body position..it's not swung back (like happens in most spear tackles..). Louv's upper body is not even parallel to the ground in the moment the leg gets caught in the ground..he's actually in an upright position....so even if the leg didn't get caught..He wouldn't have speared.a.k.a THE TACKLE IS CONTROLLED!!! "kudos" to Greg Holmes...

What gets me is how Louw's leg planted in.It's almost as if by avoiding picking the player up, there is a trade-off that the tackled player risks blowing out a knee, or breaking a leg.Then again, might be a better option than a cracked skull.

I love this tackle. Sadly tho, I don't think we'll be seeing many more of these hits. Refs seem to blow the whistle any time a ball carrier comes off the ground in the tackle. It's a shame that such a safe type of hit is being policed so hard.